At the Library

The 8th Continent

Hoping to transform a giant floating garbage patch into a habitable eighth continent where people can escape an oppressive bureaucracy, Evie and Rick must race against time when a plastic-obsessed villainess tries to claim the continent to expand her power.

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The Lane family is at it again! Evie and Rick along with their scientist father trespass on to Winterpole protected land to save an endangered bird. Unfortunately, this is illegal. They are caught and Dad is put under house arrest. Evie is worried about how this will look at school and Rick is worried about what Mom will do when she finds out. In a basement laboratory, the kids stumble on plans for a formula called the Eden compound which turns garbage into living matter. The kids set out to find this formula in order to turn the Garbage Patch into an 8th continent where Winterpole cannot rule and animals can have sanctuary. But first they must break into Winterpole, get past their nemesis Vesuvia Piffle (who also wants the formula for her own evil plans), find the doctor who has the other half of the formula, and not get caught by mom. It's a race to see whether the Eden formula will be used for good or for evil.

As I was reading this book, I felt like I was watching a Nickelodeon cartoon show with its fast pace ridiculousness. It took a while for me to get into the story because of the many strange "sciency" descriptions and the many catch phrases that I had to read twice because I didn't quite get them the first time. Such as:
"Rick screamed like his server was down for maintenance." Huh?
"Rick flapped his arms like a grumpy eagle."
"Walking felt like he had stepped in a steak-sized wad of masticated chewing gum."

And although the story had a good premise of turning garbage into paradise it seemed ridiculous that these kids could do anything in the world to keep the plot moving along even though they were little kids. The main characters were not terribly interesting. Evie is considered stupid, impetuous, and more worried about how she will fit in at school than anything. Rick is super smart, is not proud of his dad who gets in trouble with Winterpole a lot, and doesn't want to go along with saving the earth. Dad can't seem to do anything right except invent new things. He leaves the kids to solve the world's problems. And mom is constantly saying UN-AC-CEPTABLE to everything.

But my biggest concern is Vesuvia Piffle who won't own anything unless it is made out of pink plastic. She is the daughter of the CEO of a major corporation and she is a bully. She is unbelievably violent for a kids novel. She once set a girl on fire for wearing the same dress and her father pays her $50,000 a month not to drown any more puppies. She attempts to murder Rick and Evie at least twice and she screams like a raving lunatic.

I found the characters and the plot to be shallow and the descriptions to be overworked, making it difficult to get through the story in one sitting. Children who grew up on a steady diet of Nikelodeon will enjoy this highly commercial story, but for those looking for a serious read, I would give it a pass.